The little things

 

 Sometimes it is the little things that make the biggest difference...

 

Time to take down this old, broken, dirty blind...

and walah!  How beautiful is this old door!  Why would you cover it?



For under $10 we bought a sheer curtain panel and rods to hang it up.  Not a bad price to completely change the look of our door.  I think typically the curtains hang on the inside of the door, but I decided I didn't want to cover up all the glass so hung them between the screen door on the outside...might have to wash them more often, but I am happy with the look!

 

 

UPDATE: My lack of blogging does not mean we haven't been busy.  I bought fairly low cost curtains (thank you Walmart) for the living room and kitchen (and made curtains for above the sink), we hung and reused the Hunter Douglas blinds my parents had on their old bay window and placed them in our bedroom, did some thrifting and found a "close enough" match on the blind that was missing upstairs for $3.00 vs. the $80 we were getting ready to spend. 

 

Window treatments are expensive!  With some scavenging and spending time to look for good deals what could have cost us easily over $200 plus, we did for under $100.  Yay for saving money.  

 

Honey-Do List

So I don't necessarily consider myself lazy...and Jesse is far far from being lazy, but it is crazy how much time a "simple" renovation takes.  You start on one project, only to find another one that needs taken care of as you are fixing the first problem.  Needless to say, this whole house remodeling thing is taking longer than anticipated.

Bella lending a "helping" paw working
on window treatments

I put up window curtains to show off our cool wood windows and realize how filthy the glass is on the outside and how all the trim needs to be painted.  We start to take down wall paper and it tears up all the dry wall underneath... We think putting up a few walls to separate the laundry area from the bedroom area downstairs will be fairly simple and then run into all sorts of building permit problems and are still waiting for answers. 

Regardless, it is still fun fixing up our home and are learning so much in the process!  I never realized what a handy man I married.  I am not sure if this a good or bad thing for Jesse.  Good because he has a super impressed wife.  Bad because I am going to be making a much bigger list of projects for him to complete :)

Check out my latest find at the local thrift store.  How cute are these lights for $5?!

 

Let there be light!  Of course there is a big red spot of paint showing where the last owners painted around the old fixture which now needs painted over, but who cares when you have a cool new light fixture?

 

Miracle Couch

The weekend after we moved into our new house, I found this great looking couch on Craigslist for the awesome price of $150.00!  After driving an hr. into Fort Collins to pick it up, the owner decided to even take off $10.00 because it was a little dirty/barely noticeable (he insisted) ...Let's call this Miracle #1

Side note: There was a 19 year old poodle sleeping by the couch
when we arrived.  More amazing, it could still run circles around the
living room!


Miracle #2 was the task of fitting it inside our vehicle.  The seller was a real trooper and I believe took a liking to us because I don't know who else would spend as much time and effort along with us to figure out a way to make this fit like a puzzle into our escape.



1/2 inch bigger and this couch would belong
to another owner. 

Note to reader:  ALWAYS, ALWAYS measure things before buying and be realistic by the measurements. 

Jesse and I did pull out the tape measurer before driving into town to pick up the couch.  It was longer than I wanted, but convinced myself we could make it work one way or the other...maybe just reposition it differently than I had pictured in my mind...right?  Maybe the guy measured it wrong and it really could fit into the corner like I had envisioned...after all, it was only $140... Sure, Teresa, wishful thinking.

I must have the most amazing and patient husband around because after we hauled the couch inside, had an O' Crap moment when I realized that it indeed WAS the size he measured and it DID NOT look good taking up our entire living room simply being repositioned, he opted to try another method...a crazy method.


Miracle #3: That our crazy idea actually worked.  We pulled away fabric, sawed the couch in half, reconstructed the corner, re-attached the fabric, created a new pillow and "Wallah" - a brand new custom built couch that fits likes perfection into the corner window of our house. 


 

Before

 

 

During

 

 

Almost Done...

 

 

The Finished Product...not too shabby :)

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Little White House on Fawn Lane

We are officially in love with our house and have started a new adventure. We would have never guessed a year ago we would have been able to buy our first home...let alone buy our first home in Estes Park, CO.  Whoa...did not see that one coming, but we will take it. 

Within a few hours of officially  moving in Jesse was already up a ladder trimming trees and cleaning out our gutters.  Forget about rain... nothing was going to stop the hubby from doing yard work he had been waiting for years to start :) 

As for me, I stayed on level ground and discovered this lovely little path beneath all the dirt and pine needles.  We got plans for the yard, but those are for posts coming this spring.

As for the inside, there will be many new posts to follow and now with internet for the first time in well over a year I am going to be all over this blogging thing keeping you updated about the happenings of our "Home-Sweet-Reno." 

Be ready.  Be prepared.  It's gonna be a crazy ride and if you ever find yourself thinking..."hmmm these pictures just don't seem good enough..."  then make a trip to Estes and stop by in person.  We will even let you stay in our basement (as soon as you aren't in any danger of stepping on a nail).